Loaded gun in second grader's backpack causes alarm

JAMIE MOCK

Published
7:00 pm CDT, Wednesday, August 25, 2004

The gun was found in the backpack of a six-year-old boy, who was unaware the weapon was in the bag. His teacher, noticing the boy's backpack was unusually heavy after having taken out all the school supplies, reached in and discovered the gun. The loaded .380 semi-automatic handgun was in a concealed pouch inside the bag. The teacher immediately took the backpack to the administrators, who called FBISD police.

"The children did not see the gun," says FBISD spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson.

Administrators contacted the boy's parents and also called Child Protective Services.

According to reports, the boy's father, Frank Greaves, put the gun in the bag weeks earlier. He told police he forgot to take it out. He has been charged with making a firearm accessible to a child, a class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $500 fine.

"We are investigating," says Estella Oguin with CPS. "We are going to be looking into it, mostly to what the parents plan to do to make sure this doesn't happen again, what are there plans for the future. Our role is looking to see if this child at risk of this happening again. Will this gun be available to the child in the future? We will be talking to the parents about what there plans are with the gun, will the lock it up, what they are going to do with it. We will be looking at was it was a bad, obvious mistake, or the parents just used really bad judgment in choosing to use his backpack as storage."

"The principal said the students were fine the next day," says Simpson.

"They didn't appear to be upset, but they (administrators) did have counselors there to talk to children who needed to talk to someone."

A notice was sent home to all parents informing them of the incident. The student did receive disciplinary action, but the school cannot disclose what action was taken.

"We did all the things we should do," says Simpson. "The police were called, the parents were called and the school contacted CPS."